Military Organization of the Yellow Turbans
When Zhang Jue 張角, Zhang Bao 張寶 and Zhang Liang 張梁 prepared themselves for Rebellion they somewhat organized their followers. Their followers were divided into several Divisions (fāng 方) and every Division had its own leader.Michaud, The Yellow Turbans, page 96 This is where talk of so-called Division Leaders comes from. Carl Leban and Paul Michaud have used the term "Fang" to describe a Division.Michaud, The Yellow Turbans, page 96 Fang is the Romanization of '方'. They chose not to use the word 'Division' (which Rafe de Crespigny uses as a translation of 'Fang'), or 'Adept' (which Howard S. Levy uses as a translation of 'Fang') because they believe that we do not know enough about 'Fang' to give it a proper translation.Levy, Bifurcation of the Yellow Turbans, page 252 Levy, Michaud and Leban, also use the term "Ta-Fang", which Rafe de Crespigny would translate as 'Large Division'. Michaud, Leban and Levy also use Ta-Fang to describe Ma Yuanyi 馬元義, a Large Division Leader according to Rafe de Crespigny. By following these historians we can say that there were indeed ranks in the army of the Yellow Turbans, and thus some sort of military organization.Leban, Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei, page 74 List of Ranks & Titles of Yellow Turbans :Main article: List of Yellow Turban Ranks and Titles Before we order all ranks and their corresponding wielders, we make a list of all ranks and titles we can find, which are: *Great CommanderChen Shou, Sanguo zhi, Wei 18 *Large Division Leader *Local LeaderLevy, Yellow Turban Religion and Rebellion, page 217Leban, Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei, page 70 *Lord of Earth General *Lord of Heaven General *Lord of Man General *(Small) Division Leader Zhang Jue, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang took the titles of Heaven, Earth and Man. Since they were head of the Yellow Turbans, these titles were probably the highest. Below them are the Division Leaders, or Fang: From this we also learn that below the Fang were the Local Leaders, (qu shuài; also known as Great Leaders''Michaud, ''The Yellow Turbans, page 96, Gang Leaders''Sima Jian, ''The Memoirs of Han China, part II, page 297 and Bandit Leaders''Leban, ''Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei, page 70). Then there remains the title of Great Commander (大帥), which was wielded by Wu Ba 吳霸. About its wielder we know hardly anything and about his rank even less. We only know that Wu Ba wielded it.Chen Shou, Sanguo zhi, Wei 18 (I wouldn't be surprised if he was actually a Local Leader). Military Organization ---- Followers left out of the above: *Liang Zhongning "Leader of Yellow Turbans" *Tang Zhou a follower who's rank (if he had one) is not known. *Zhang Bo "Leader of Yellow Turbans" Military Distrubution Notes References Sources *Chen Shou. Sanguo zhi. *de Crespigny, Rafe. Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1989. *Jian, Sima. The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume IX: The Memoirs of Han China, Part II. Indiana University Press, 2010. *Levy, Howard Seymour. "The Bifurcation of the Yellow Turbans in Later Han." Oriens (1960-61): 251-255. *—. "Yellow Turban Religion and Rebellion at the End of Han." Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 76 (1956): 214-227. *Mansvelt Beck, B. J. "The Date of the Taiping Jing." T'oung P'ao second series, vol. 66 (1980): 149-182. *Sima Guang. Zizhi Tongjian. Category:Yellow Turbans